Lockwood v Cheshire and Wirral NHS Foundation Trust [2025] ET 2401211/2024

In brief

A non-binary individual assigned female at birth who used they/them pronouns but had no intention of transitioning to male brought claims of gender reassignment discrimination. The Employment Tribunal held that post-FWS, 'reassigning' under s.7 means a process with the purpose of moving from one sex to another in binary terms. A non-binary identity destination — without intention to transition to the opposite sex — does not engage s.7 protection. The claimant's claims of gender reassignment discrimination were struck out.

Key provisions

• Post-FWS, s.7 'gender reassignment' requires a process of moving from one sex to another — binary transition: Post-FWS, s.7 EA2010 "gender reassignment" requires a process of moving from one sex to another — meaning binary transition from male to female or female to male.
• holding-1 — Non-binary identity without intention to transition to the opposite sex is not protected by s.7: Post-FWS, s.7 EA2010 "gender reassignment" requires a process of moving from one sex to another — meaning binary transition from male to female or female to male.
• holding-2 — This creates a protection gap for non-binary people who do not identify with either binary sex: Non-binary identity without intention to transition to the opposite sex is not protected by s.7 EA2010, because there is no "process of reassigning sex" from one to another.
• The ruling is first-instance and not binding — may be appealed or distinguished: The ruling is a first-instance Employment Tribunal decision — not binding on other tribunals and susceptible to appeal or being distinguished on the facts.

When relevant

Any assessment involving non-binary employees, service users, or members. Affects how the toolkit frames legal protection for non-binary personas. Relevant to EqIA assessments, proportionality analysis, and governance guidance where non-binary individuals are affected by policy changes. Note: this is an ET decision (persuasive only) and the interpretation may evolve.